System of drafting locomotives



May 23, 1939. F. H. c. coPPus SYSTEM OF DRAFTING LOCOMOTIVES Filed Aug.20, 1937 '3 Sheets-Sheet l,

y 1939- F. H. c. coPPus 2,159,472

SYSTEM OF DRAFTING LOCOMOTIVES Filed Aug. 20, 1937 3Sheets-Sheet 2 gun-I J6 g M y 23, 1939- A F. H. c. coPPus 2,159,472

SYSTEM OF DRAFTING LOCOMOTIVES Filed Aug. 20, 1957 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 JWde7: z .751)? CCop oz Brown, a

Patented May 23, 1939 I UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 2,159,472 SYSTEM orDRAFTING LOCOMOTIVES Frans H. C. Coppus, Princeton, Mass, assignor toLinwood M. Erskine, Worcester, Mass; Vera W. Coppus and Frans H. C.Coppus, both of Princeton, Mass, as trustees Application August 20,1937, Serial No. 160,076

6 Claims. (01. 104-52) This invention is an improvement over that setcounterweight the blower will be raised and by forth in my prior PatentNo. 1,669,455 and has for letting this chain go the blower will belowered, its special objects the provision of a support outthus takingcare of different heights of stacks. side the line of locomotives andsmoke jacks; By p ll n the chain sidewise the fork will be means fordrafting locomotives, with means for swung around pivoting about thesupporting counterbalancing the drafting device, a trolley for chain 2|thereby allowing the blower to take up moving the drafting device in theroundhouse, any position desired. This enables the whole and a trolleywheel, preferably attached to the device to be moved from one place toanother in counterweight, for engaging the track and enthe roundhouseand to bring the blower into 10 abling the device to be transportedconveniently. registration with a smoke stack located in any 10 Anotherobject is to provide for drafting a 1000- position under the smoke jack.

motive whether the smoke stack is at one end or Another form of thisinvention illustrated comthe other of the smoke jack or at anyintermediprises two tracks 22 and 23 substantially parallel at o ition,to each other on which locomotives may be locat- Another object is toprovide supreme simpliced as indicated by dotted circles 25 representing15 ity in the installation of the system. locomotive stacks and anelevated beam 24 be- Other objects and advantages of the invention tweensaid tracks for supporting the trolley I3 will appear hereinafter. andthe fork I4.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying At the bottom of the railbeam I2, which prefdrawings, in which: erably is in the form of anI-beam, two wheels 20 Fig. 1 is a plan view of a roundhouse showing I8rest upon it and these support the trolley I3. a few of the smoke jacksin position therein and There is also a grooved wheel I9 on the shaft ofthe way of drafting when a locomotive is run all one of these wheels I8and it carries a chain 20 the way into the end of the jack or when itsby which it can be turned one way or the other 25 smoke stack is at adistance therefrom; for the purpose of rolling the trolley along the 25Fig. 2 is a plan view of one of the smoke jacks beam. A chain 2| issupported by the trolley and showing the adjustment of the fork fordrafting hangs down to support the fork I4.

a locomotive smoke stack at either end of it; It will be seen from Fig.1 that the fork can be Fig. 3 is a side view showing the drafting of aplaced in two extreme positions to bring the 3-) locomotive by thissystem; blower I5 over the smoke stack of a locomotive Fig. 4 is asectional view of the supporting whether it is merely pushed into theouter end of track and trolley; the smoke jack or is moved all the wayup to the Fig. 5 is a side view showing this device when extreme end ofit and this is shown more fully in removed from operative position andin position Fig. 2. Any intermediate position between these .3 to bemoved around the roundhouse from one extremes may, of course, beoccupied by the smoke jack to another, and blower.

Fig. 6 is a plan View of a pair of railroad tracks The counterweight isof less weight than the either inside a roundhouse or in a railroadyard, blower and ordinarily merely serves to reduce the showing threesmoke stacks representing the 10- weight of the blower so that it can beplaced in cation of three engines on said tracks and the the properplace easily, but when the device is way of drafting said engines. to bemoved around the roundhouse under the One form of this inventionillustrated combeam I2, the counterweight with the guide wheel prises aroundhouse having an outer wall I0, 9. will move high enough, due to theWeight of the series of smoke jacks II, a beam I2, in front of blower,to engage the bottom of the beam I2. It the smoke jacks, for supportinga trolley I3 and is in this position that the trolley is turned by the45 a fork I4. This, fork can be moved to the posichain 20 in eitherdirection to move the device totion shown in Fig. 5 and the whole devicemoved wards the smoke stack of the engine to be around the roundhouse toany desired position. drafted. Then by pulling down on the pull chainThe fork I4 is provided at one end with a blower the guide trolley I1 isdisengaged from the beam,

I5 such as show n y above mentioned prior the fork swung around and bymoving the trolley 50 patent. At the other end it is provided with a I3in the proper direction the blower is placed counterweight I6 and aguide wheel I! adapted on the stack. to engage'under the beam I2 toguide the whole No details of the smoke jack are shown herein devicealong the beam I2. By pulling downas the smoke jack can be used asillustrated in .65 Ward on a chain 66 pref rab y c ect d to e my abovementioned prior patent.

It will be seen, therefore, that with a single rail or beam [2, the forkl4 can be moved from place to place and adjusted accurately to registerthe blower with the smoke jack of the locomotive under the smoke jackand all desired exhaustion of the same can be obtained, the same as inmy above mentioned patent.

This construction is comparatively simple and inexpensive and entirelyeliminates the switch and spur track set forth in said patent and isuseful under certain conditions in which it is adapted to be used.

Having thus described my invention and the advantages thereof, I do notwish to be limited to the details herein disclosed, otherwise than asset forth in the claims, but what I claim is:

1. The combination with a plurality of smoke jacks, each adapted toreceive the smoke stack of a locomotive, of a fixed beam extendingaround outside the smoke jacks, a trolley carried by said beam, an armuniversally pivoted intermediate its ends to the trolley,-a blowercarried by the arm at one end so as to be registered with the desiredsmoke stack, a counterweight for the blower v carried on the arm at theother end, and a guide on the counterweight adapted to engage the bottomof the beam, the blower being arranged and adapted to hold the arm inposition for the guide to be pressed against the beam whilethe blower isout .of use, to facilitate the moving of the device from one jack toanother along the beam.

2. The combination with a roundhouse comprising a series of smoke jacks,of a fixed beam extending around the inside of the wall of. theroundhouse and outside the smoke jacks, a trolley depending from saidbeam, an arm universally pivoted between its ends to the trolley, ablower carried by the arm at one end, a counterweight for the blower onthe other end of the arm, the blower normally overbalancing thecounterweight to lift it, and a guide on the counterweight adapted toengage the bottom of the beam, when the counterweight is so lifted.

3. The combination with a plurality of smoke jacks, of a fixed beamextending around outside the smoke jacks, a trolley carried by saidbeam, a fork carried by the trolley universally pivoted thereto andcapable of being moved into a position to be registered with the desiredsmoke jack, a blower carried by one end of the fork, a counterweight forthe blower on the other end of the fork, the pivot for the fork beinglocated between the blower and counterweight and a guide connected tothe counterweight and adapted to en.-

gage the bottom of the beam to hold the fork in position while out ofuse, to facilitate the moving of the device from one jack to anotheralong the track.

4. The combination with a roundhouse having a plurality of smoke jackstherein under which locomotive smoke stacks can be placed, of a fixedbeam extending around the inside of the wall of the roundhouse andoutside the smoke jacks, a trolley carried by said beam, an armuniversally pivoted between the ends of the arm to the trolley,

a blower carried by one end of the arm and capable of being registeredwith the desired smoke jack, the trolley being movable to carry theblower from one jack to another and the arm being turnable about saidpivot to adjust the blower to exactly the desired place, a counterweightfor the blower on the opposite end of the arm, and a guide carried bythe arm and adapted to engage the bottom of the beam to hold the arm inposition, while out of use, to facilitate the moving of the device intheroundhouse.

5. The combination with a roundhouse, of a fixed beam extending aroundthe inside of the wall of the roundhouse and outside the smoke jacks, atrolley carried by said beam, an arm universally pivoted between itsends to and carried by the trolley, a blower carried by the arm at oneend, a counterweight on the other end of the arm for the blower, and aguide on the counterweight adapted to engage the bottom of the beam bythe action of the blower which is capable of lifting the counterweightby the aid of gravity.

6. The combination with a roundhouse having a plurality of smoke jackstherein under which locomotive smoke stacks can be placed, of a fixedbeam extending around in front of the jacks of the roundhouse, a trolleycarried by said beam, a depending arm universally pivoted intermediateits ends on the trolley, a blower carried by the arm at one end thereofso as to be capable of being registered with the desired smoke stack,the trolley being movable to carry the blower from one jack to anotherand the arm being capable of being turned to adjust the blower toexactly the desired place, a counterweight for the blower on theopposite end of the arm, the blower tending normally to lift thecounterweight, and a guide on the counterweight capable of engaging thebottom of the beam to hold the counterweight against the bottom of thebeam.

FRANS H. C. COPPUS.

